Avalanche
by purple-paper-plane
Summary: In Arendelle, the Kingdom of Eternal Winter, summer is a memory for the elderly and a dream for the young. Those who managed to survive cling desperately to what little they have. But when fourteen-year-old Anders and his older sister have everything taken from them, they want nothing more than to slaughter their queen and break the wintry curse. Slight AU.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my attempt at a darker** ** _Frozen_** **, focusing more on the people of Arendelle and how their lifestyles are affected by the winter. I hope I'm doing the fandom justice!**

 **I do not own** ** _Frozen_** **, but I do own characters unfamiliar to canon.**

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Red. There was red everywhere. Red dribbled down my chin and onto my mitten-covered hands. Spots of red decorated the snow. I can't remember if I've ever seen the color before; especially a hue so...striking. Tears mingled with the red, and I was confused as to whether they existed because of the pain, or because of the red itself. Sweet red in a world full of white.

"Oh...Oh my Queen!" I could hear my sister scream, "I did _not_ mean to...! Mother is going to kill me..." I could hear the snow crackling under her boots as she paced. She huffed in exasperation.

The red pooled in my hands as I remained kneeling on the frosty ground. My breathing was ragged, heavy, painful.

Red soaked into the material of the mittens and I found myself tightening my hands into fists in an attempt to preserve it. I could use it to bring Arendelle back. I could...I could...

The cold is all I know. Vicious. Consuming. Deceptively beautiful winter; it was hard to imagine that Arendelle was once a lively town bursting with color, beauty, and smiles. Tales of the former Arendelle are told to me by the elders who have yet to freeze over in death, as I am too young to have experienced The Sun Years myself. Years that were dampened by Queen Elsa, whose powers to freeze mistakenly froze the town two decades ago.

From what I've heard, Princess Anna—Queen Elsa's sister—had traveled to find the queen after she exiled herself from Arendelle. The princess, upon finding the queen, was struck in the heart by the queen's icy powers and gradually turned to ice. When Queen Elsa saw her sister's inanimate body she lost it, falling into a deep depression; she hid both herself and Princess Anna in her ice tower for as long as anyone could remember. All of the queen's plans to bring Arendelle back to summer for the sake of her sister were forgotten.

"...Come on, let's get you cleaned up, okay?" My sister, Grete, took my arm in her huge iron grip, pulling me to my feet.

The red is gone. All gone. Lost in white.

"You know I didn't mean to hurt you, brother...I would never...I-I'm sorry. It was a stupid idea for me to..."

Glancing upward, I searched my sister's face. Her eyes were unfocused, misted over with guilt. I couldn't understand why she kept apologizing. I was fine—or at least I would be. I was just as strong as she was! Really! But I must've looked terrible, I guess.

Grete and I were wrestling only moments before. It was all in jest, something we did when we were bored or wanted to test our strength. So when Mother had us scrounge the mountains' forest for food again this morning (we often returned empty-handed), wrestling was the best option to bring some enjoyment to a task Grete and I knew would end in sadness. Grete-who had the body of a bear and the strength of a dozen reindeer—always won. And me, being the complete opposite, lost. Every single time. And I definitely lost this match when I took an accidental elbow to the mouth, bringing forth the appearance of **red**.

I was lead to a river glossed over with a sheet of ice, shivering when a gust of frozen air ripped through layers of my clothes to bite my bones. At the sight of my trembling, Grete unfastened her cloak and was in the process of throwing it over my shoulders when I stepped aside. I despised how she babied me. I could look after myself. At fourteen, I was a man!

Sighing as if to say "your loss," Grete threw the cloak back over her broad shoulders, kneeling before the narrow body of water before us. She reached for the pickax tied to her hip with a strip of fabric, tapping the river's ice with a firm grace I secretly envied. The thin layer of ice broke away to reveal raging dark water underneath. I knelt beside Grete to get a closer view; it was mesmerizing how opaque the waves were, how the strongly the scent of salt greeted me, relaxed me.

My mouth tasted bitter, like copper, so I scooped handfuls of water into my mouth to rinse out with. Something didn't feel right as I gargled the water and spat it out in the snow alongside me. I assumed it was due to swelling.

The harsh sound of something being ripped apart received my immediate attention. I whipped my head in the direction of the noise in the event it belonged to one of the wild animals (now endangered because of the weather) living near us. It was only my sister, who was tearing the end of the fabric that was wrapped around her. I let out a subtle sigh of relief.

Grete then dipped the piece of fabric into the frosty depths of the river, being careful enough not to soak her mittens. She removed it, grasping it in one hand as she turned to me. "Try to stay still."

Before I knew it she was dabbing at my face with the fabric to remove the red. I shrunk back whenever the fabric touched my skin; the water was so frigid that it burned against my newly-acquired sores and cuts. I would've objected to Grete cleaning me on an average day, but her gentleness—reminiscent of Mother—helped to ease the pain.

"All better." Grete held me by the chin as she admired her work of wiping my face clean. She offered up a small smile and I returned it.

"Thanks." I replied, but my swelling lower lip muffled my voice.

Grete's eyes grew as large as an owl's. She stopped breathing, angling my chin closer to her own face. "Wh-What?"

I frowned, wanting to return the question. What exactly was going on?

"Say that again, Anders...I didn't hear you."

"Thanks?"

My sister searched my face for a moment, and her mouth fell open a bit. She let go of my chin, stunned. The look of shock on her face contorted to that of amusement, and she began to giggle. And she _never_ giggles.

"What?" My voice was shrill with panic, "Wh-What's going on? Tell me!" I swung at Grete's arm half-heartedly to stop her laughter, but it was no use. My face burned with embarrassment. Was my swollen lip that hilarious?

Still laughing, Grete took out her pickax again and tapped away a small sheet of ice from the river. This time she caught it before it was swept away by the strong current and placed it in my hands.

I hoped that whatever Grete found funny wasn't as bad as it seemed. Using the ice sheet as a makeshift mirror, I held it up to my face. My reflection materialized: Dark eyes. Brown skin. Dark curls peeking out from under my hat. All looked fine except for the bruising and swelling, of course. "I don't see anything—" I began to say, but paused when I saw _it_.

Holy Arendelle.

"Geeeeeee..." I whined like a four-year-old, in complete disbelief at what I was seeing. "Gee" was the nickname I gave Grete as a toddler when I was learning how to speak and couldn't pronounce her name. "You chipped my tooooooth!"

Grete stopped laughing immediately. She crossed her arms and gave me a look. She hated it when I called her Gee. Hated it. "Sorry, _Andy_." She said through her teeth.

"Andy" was my childhood nickname. It was mostly used by mother...who still uses it, actually. She was the only person I could tolerate calling me Andy. No one else.

And if you haven't already guessed it, there was a time when we were known to Arendelle as "Gee and Andy."

Grete and Anders. Gee and Andy. Like a pair of musicians.

Yes, "Gee and Andy" actually happened. Grete was my role model growing up (she still is) and I used to follow her everywhere. We were inseparable (much to Grete's disdain), and people used that collective title to refer to us. "Gee and Andy" sent icy tremors through me that no Arendelle wind could ever match.

"It's ANDERS." I corrected.

"Really? I could've sworn it was 'Chip'!" Another giggle escaped from Grete.

Chip? Because of my chipped tooth? Originality was lacking here. I rolled my eyes. "Very funny." I held up the ice-mirror again, baring my teeth. The front tooth on the left was chipped diagonally at its outer corner; a third of the bone missing. A clean break. And it hurt like a—

"Here." Grete regained composure long enough to hand me the piece of fabric she used to clean my face earlier. This time she had wrapped a snowball inside of it and tied the ends at the top. "For your face."

I took the bundle of snow and held it to my face where the heat of the injuries mingled with the cold of the snow, creating a comfortable numbness. I rose to my feet, and Grete joined me.

"...Sorry for laughing earlier." My sister returned to the serious person I knew her for, "I just wanted to have some fun before Mother kills me."

I gave a curt nod as I was too self-conscious to open my mouth to say anything. A part of me wished I had gotten a black eye instead. At least that was temporary!

"Don't be like that, brother. I said I was sorry!" Grete argued, "Besides, a chipped tooth gives you a whole lot of character. Think about it. Now you're experienced, mysterious...rugged!"

I turned my nose up at Grete, who was trying to play into my insecurities about being manly enough, just to make the chip in my tooth seem worthwhile. I had to hold a snowball to my face! I wasn't falling for it.

"A chipped tooth is a battle scar..." Grete started again.

I snorted. Grete would probably try telling me that all of Arendelle's war heroes sported papercuts!

"Okay...Um...Girls like chipped teeth?" My sister sounded like a desperate ice harvester struggling to sell ice in this weather.

"Ugh!" I was fed up with Grete's suggestions, stopping her before she started Round Three, "No they don't! _No one likes chipped teeth_! I look like a _felon_!"

"He lives!" Grete cried out in mock surprise. "And I'd say you make an adorable felon."

"Grrah! I'm not 'adorable'! I'm on the cusp of manhood!"

"'Cusp'? Did you just say 'cusp'?" Grete chuckled.

"That's what Mother says! That boyhood is fleeting and I—"

"Mother did _not_ say 'cusp'! I can't see her saying that!"

"She did say 'cusp'!"

"Stop saying 'cusp'!" Grete waved a dismissive hand, "Jeez!"

"Well...stop trying to make chipped teeth a thing! Chipped teeth are not—and never will be—a good thing!" I began the descent from the mountains, my sister close behind me.

"Says you! One day everyone will be dying to chip their teeth—"

"Ew..." I shook away the horrific image. "Like summer!"

In Arendelle, the younger generation uses the phrase "like summer" for things that will never happen. Because when will we ever get to experience summer? Not in our lifetimes.

Grete chuckled again. "Okay, maybe not! Consider yourself one-of-a-kind!"

"I was 'one-of-a-kind' _before_ you broke my face!"

"I didn't break your face. Just your tooth. And it was an accident!"

"My tooth is a part of my face. Therefore, you broke my face!"

"Fine! I broke your face! Truce?"

"I told you so. And truce."

Grete and I walked the rest of the way to town in complete silence; me still nursing my face with the snowball and she observing the area around us with keen eyes, ever ready for anything.

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 **A/N: Well, that's the first chapter! Thank you for reading! I wanted to establish the relationship between Anders and his sister before anything else. :) I had fun writing their banter. Anders is so sassy...**

 **Please tell me what you think!**

 **Until next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Before reading this chapter, please be warned that it eventually contains brief descriptions of sexual activity.**

 **And thank you all for the support!**

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My knees buckled as Grete took out the keys to our home from her pocket and unlocked the door. I knew mother would be disappointed to see that tooth of mine. She didn't like it when Grete and I wrestled, believing it to be pointless, primitive.

Grete sensed my uneasiness; she shoved me into the doorway, shutting the door behind us.

Mother was sitting in her wooden chair in front of the small fire we had, working on her needlepoint, her back to us. Light sifted in from a window near her, casting her features in a haunting glow. How fitting.

"Mother!" Grete called out, putting on an act of joy, "We're back!"

I didn't say anything, for fear that it would give away my condition. Not until Grete stepped on my foot to get me to talk, anyway. I let out a whimpered "hi."

"Hey guys." Mother greeted us, still facing the fire, "Did you find anything for us to eat?"

"Sorry. I guess we're not having dinner again tonight. Or breakfast. Or lunch." Grete answered.

"Hm. Wish there was something..." Mother commented thoughtfully. She got up from her chair, setting down her needlepoint in her place.

My heart came to a halt as she approached us.

Mother was a naturally thin woman, but the thick, heavy clothes she wore to protect herself from the winter weighed her down so that she looked frail. Her dark and curly hair, tied back in a bun, seemed to increase her age. Mother looked elderly, though she was only middle-aged. But that's what the eternal winter did to people...aged them. Warped their bodies from stress, hunched them over from bitterness and hunger.

I avoided my mother's eyes, focusing on the rug beneath my boots.

"Anders, my baby, what happened to your face?" She hurried over to me, taking my chin in her hand and tilting it to meet her eyes.

Mother calls me "baby" as I am the youngest of the household, and treats me like one, too. She's overprotective, constantly checking up on me, holding me in her arms, assisting me in everything despite my attempts to get rid of her. It's probably because I remind her of Father, who was one of the first to die when the eternal winter took over a little while after I was born.

Father had gone up to the mountains to gather more firewood. He was on his way back to town when a tree, overwhelmed with the weight of snow on its branches, fell on top of him. Father was out there alone. The tree was heavy. He was as scrawny as I am. His axe had been buried in the impact. He couldn't breathe. He died. Mother was in a panic at Father's disappearance, demanding that a search group from town travel up to the mountains to find him. It was three days later, under of layers of snow, that the group found my father's body. Mother was devastated.

I shook my head. I couldn't answer Mother verbally. Not with a chipped tooth. Not if I valued my life.

Mother's expression went from calm to simmering in seconds as she assessed my swelling and bruised mouth, my cut lip. "It should all heal pretty quickly." She whispered to assure herself more than she was trying to comfort me. She motioned to the snowball in my hand that hadn't yet melted. "What's that in your hand?"

I gave the snowball to Mother, who let go of my chin. Grete exhaled.

Mother held up an end of the fabric with disgust as if it were a dead rodent. "A...snowball?" She gave Grete a frown. "This looks like yours, Grete. Please explain."

Grete straightened. "I...I...Mother, I..." She then lowered her head, unable to continue.

"You two were roughhousing again, weren't you?" Mother sighed, "I've been telling you two that it's pointless. Primitive. Nothing good will ever come of it. And you're _twenty-one_ , Grete! You have no excuse. Hurting your poor, defenseless brother!" She placed the snowball on our small table nearby and hugged me delicately.

I scowled at Mother's touch. Poor? Defenseless? I'm not made of glass!

"It's not _roughhousing_...It's _wrestling_! It builds strength..." Grete flexed one of her biceps. Her muscle was almost as wide as my head, so perfectly chiseled that it would've made Hercules cry. "...and endurance!" She flexed the other beautiful bicep.

I was completely jealous by Grete's muscled frame, burying my eyes into Mother's shoulder so that I couldn't see her.

"You two are building...yourselves a list of unnecessary injuries!" Mother snapped.

There was a long silence, the whistling of the wind speaking for us.

Grete's face darkened dangerously, and I returned to hiding in Mother's shoulder, bracing myself for the fight I knew was approaching. "We need to be strong to survive this winter, Mother. We need to be able to fight for what we need. This cruel world isn't going to drop whatever we desire right into our laps now, is it?" She laughed sardonically.

"Strength stems from many sources, daughter. Not only the physical! Kindness and patience...treating others with respect in times like these...with that, you can be stronger than anyone!"

I sighed, annoyed by this conversation because it permanently surfaced in exchanges between Mother and Grete. Mother was a pacifist. Grete was all about action. When it came to them, there was only one way to survive Arendelle. Their way.

Grete threw her hands in the air in indignation. "What are words, anyway? Snowflakes! Brawn is the blizzard-!"

Mother gasped, pulling me off of her. She flew over to Grete. "Snowflakes? _Snowflakes_?"

"Words are nothing, Mother! Words do nothing! What Father needed that day was strength! If he could've been able to lift that tree, he wouldn't have died under it like a wordless coward...!"

It was my turn to gasp. Speaking of Father in such a way was cruel. Especially since that moment was still fresh in Mother's mind, a slow-healing wound forced open by circumstance. She began to cry, yet she remained where she was standing on tiptoe so that she could speak to Grete eye-to-eye.

"Mind your mouth, Grete! Your father—"

"—might've lived if someone actually took the initiative to go up to the mountains! What did you do? You _waited_ to see if he'd come back! You stayed behind! Called on others to do your job...all while the man was dying! Dying!"

For a split second, none of us moved. The world, an eager listener, held its breath.

Mother raised her hand as if to slap Grete across the face, but she beat her daughter's chest with her fists in a rage again and again, tears launching from her eyes. "I did everything I could! Everything! You think I should've abandoned my children?! That I should've gone to the mountain by myself so that I could die?! Who would watch you then?! Protect you?!"

Grete, being as strong as she was, didn't feel Mother's barrage of blows. But her expression was stone-cold. Arendelle cold.

I wanted to pull Mother away from my sister, but I couldn't move. Couldn't speak. So I reached for the snowball on the table and threw it in their direction...

The snowball hit Mother in the back of the head, shattering within the fabric, the fabric taking a nose-drive into the rug.

Mother's hands dropped from Grete. She turned her head to face me, her eyes blinking as if she was trying to remember who I was. Grete gave me a blank stare.

"Stop it! Stop fighting!" I was surprised by the magnitude of my voice. "It doesn't matter what you do to survive...you should be grateful we made it this far! Mother...I can't believe you tried to hurt your own daughter like that! And Grete, don't you ever speak ill of the dead...especially if they died trying to do something for you! Father didn't have to get that firewood. He could've let us freeze for the night if he wished!" Tears of frustration ran down my cheeks and I wiped at them with a sleeve.

Mother suddenly screamed.

Grete and I traded glimpses of horror, both recalling why I had to keep quiet.

My tooth. I had forgotten all about it.

Instantly, Mother yanked me forward by the chin, causing my mouth to fall open. She paled at the result of my latest wrestling loss. "Y-Your...tooth...! It's ch-ch-chipped...?" A trembling hand covered her own mouth. The calm before the snowstorm.

"I'm sorry! It was an accident!" Grete spoke up, "I didn't mean to—"

Mother spun to face Grete now, who flinched at the eye contact. "YOU did this?! That's it! No more roughhousing...wrestling...whatever it is you call it!" She wrapped her arms around me again, this time squeezing my life from me. "My innocent little baby looks like a _felon_ now!"

If I wasn't fighting to breathe, I would've cast a knowing look at my sister. A felon! My identity was chipped away—quite literally—and now I was a felon! Before I could consider the success rate of a life of crime, Grete bounded across the room to wrap her arms around Mother, trapping me in the middle of a stifling family embrace.

"F-Forgive me! Please, Mother...I'll make it up to Anders, I promise! I won't hurt him again. I won't. I won't! I deserve any punishment you give me. J-Just have mercy..." Grete's voice was thick with emotion (or was muffled by the way she clung desperately to us, I'll never know); any and every emotion she hid could only be revealed by Mother.

Mother softened, her arms recoiled from around me and draped themselves around Grete to the best of their ability. "Oh Grete, I wouldn't...You have nothing to fear. I should be apologizing to you. I shouldn't have put my hands on you in anger. The only thing we can be sure we have is each other, so we need to be careful in this weather...look after each other, don't weaken each other. Even if it's all in fun. I love you and your brother more than all of the snow in Arendelle!" She laughed, a youthful, light sound. "All I ask is that we spend time together as a family...We won't last forever, you know."

Grete squeezed Mother in response. I was pressed between Grete's boulder-hard body and Mother's wiry one tighter than I'd wished. Mother let out a yelp of surprise at her daughter's grip.

"Oh...um...Sorry." Grete said sheepishly, dropping her arms from us. She stepped back, her hands raised.

I wheezed for air once we separated, and Mother rubbed my back instinctively to comfort me.

"Now, don't think I'm not disappointed in you two. You know now that there are... _permanent_...consequences to your actions." Mother said the word 'permanent' softly, her eyes settling on me. I could tell she was still angry about my tooth. So was I, but there was nothing we could do about it. "You've all suffered quite enough. What I wanted to say before we were...distracted...was this."

Grete stood beside me, enthusiastically awaiting Mother's news.

"We might be able to eat dinner after all!" Mother grinned like a little girl when Grete and I gasped, "Guess what I have!"

I opened my mouth to respond, but was interrupted by Mother.

"Ah...I can't wait for that!" Mother reached behind her back and pulled out..."Carrots!" There were a small bundle carrots tied together with string in Mother's hand.

"Carrots?!" Grete and I yelled in unison, salivating like ravenous beasts. We haven't seen actual food in a while!

"Th-Thank you...Th-They're so expensive..." I managed to say in awe.

Grete nodded. "Yeah...Thanks...but what did you trade for them?"

The eternal winter here in Arendelle had left the oceans surrounding us frozen to a certain point so that we can't trade for resources beyond the town, but can view ships circling our iced-over ports in an attempt to establish a trade agreement. The ice is risky to maneuver, and eventually the ships would give up and go from whence they came, leaving the people of Arendelle to trade amongst themselves.

The weather had affected the process of trading for the town. Money no longer had any value to us. We trade for items of survival now; food, clothes, and tools are among the most expensive possessions one can own in these times.

Mother looked crestfallen for a moment, but she smiled again. This time the smile wasn't as bright or genuine. "Some of my quilts. I traded some of my quilts."

"Wait...what?!" I couldn't believe it. Mother would never trade her quilts for anything. She sewed these gigantic, warm, illustrative quilts from our family's old, ragged clothes that featured all of the milestones in her life—both positive and negative. There was a quilt of the time she used to stargaze with her parents in the summer when she was younger, one when she met Father, one when Grete was born, one when I was born, one of Queen Elsa's coronation, one when Father died, and one of Arendelle Castle covered in spring flowers (a recent dream Mother had that she believed was a premonition). Her quilts were works of art, personal tributes to the people and things she loved. They were her pride and joy as she often stayed up late just to make sure the details were perfect, and that her hands were covered in old scars from her sewing needle.

"Which ones?" Grete asked slowly. She knew how much the quilts meant to Mother and knew the sacrifice was serious.

"...The spring one. With the castle. And Queen Elsa's coronation. I didn't have it in my heart to give up the others."

I sighed, a sound that was half wistful and half thankful. I was hurt to see those quilts go, but at least Mother didn't trade away my favorite (the stargazing one).

"Mother...Don't trade any more of your quilts, please. Brother and I will search under every snowflake in Arendelle to find food for us. You've worked too hard on them." Grete was always the one in control.

Mother nodded. "I just wanted to help. It seems as if sitting around here is the only thing I do nowadays. But now we have enough to eat for a little while...If we split one carrot amongst the three of us. And besides, I can always make more quilts. As soon as I'm finished with this needlepoint, I'll make one of Andy's tooth." She walked over to the corner of the room that held the large, steel basin of water the family scooped water out of to do everything from washing our hands, drinking, cooking, and bathing. Cups and bowls were beside the basin, and Mother sat on the floor as she used a cup to pour water into a bowl.

I flushed, and Grete looked out of the window. Mother wanted to make a quilt of my tooth? It was an honor, yet embarrassing reminder of what happened. "Uh...Th-Thanks, Mother?" I didn't see the significance in creating an entire quilt over it, but once Mother had her mind set on something, she couldn't be persuaded to do otherwise.

"The quilt is going to beautiful. I can see it already!" Mother rinsed her hands in the bowl before she got up to walk over to the window. She opened it and poured out the water from the bowl, closing the window when she was done.

"Go wash up, you two, and I'll prepare the carrot." Mother gave us another faint smile, handing me the bowl she used.

Grete and I rushed over to the water basin to wash our hands as well. We knelt in front of it, tearing off our mittens. I was in the process of using a cup to add water to the bowl Mother gave me when Grete called out to her:

"Mother, is it okay if Anders and I went out after dinner? I want to show him something."

Mother hummed while she chopped up the carrot on the table with her knife, pausing to answer Grete. "Sounds lovely, dear. Spending time with Andy."

I squinted at Grete, who dropped her hands in her water-filled bowl, scrubbing away at the dirt on them. I did the same. "What are you doing?" I whispered fiercely. "You don't take me anywhere with you unless Mother—"

"Hush. I want to make it up to you, Brother. Just let me, okay?" Grete snapped back. I could tell from the gleam in her eyes that she was absolutely serious.

"I have plans after dinner, Grete." I told Grete with an "hmph" for emphasis. I didn't have plans after dinner, if reading my favorite book (one with a knight, a terrifying sea monster, and a damsel in distress who turns out to be the sea monster) for the hundredth time didn't count. In actuality, I was nervous of going out with my sister. Scared out of my mind. She had a whole other life outside the home that she refused to tell Mother and I about. And now I could get a glimpse of it? I could barely breathe.

"Well cancel them. You're coming with me."

I pouted, hiding my anxiousness. "They were really important plans, you know."

Grete grinned. "Are you scared?" She took my bowl from me when I was finished with it, and stacked it on top of hers.

"No! Of course not!" I called out to Grete's back as she got up to walk over to the window. I watched in anger as she poured out the murky water from the bowls as Mother had done. How is Grete able to read my emotions so easily? She then closed the window, returning to the corner to put the bowls back, her grin growing.

Grete chuckled at me as I stood and we walked over to the table together, where Mother divided the carrot into servings for each of us onto plates.

"Where are we going, exactly?" I couldn't help but ask. There wasn't much to do in Arendelle. Where _does_ Grete disappear to whenever she left home in the middle of the night?

"You'll see when we get there."

"Give me a hint. Please?"

"No." Grete pulled her chair out from the table once she got there and sat down in front of her plate of carrot slices.

"C'mon...One hint." I sat in front of my plate of carrot across from Grete, eyeing the handful of pieces in front of me. It wasn't enough to fight off hunger. Then again, I knew better than to complain.

Mother smiled at the both of us, content in seeing Grete and I interacting in a way that didn't involve the chipping of my teeth.

"Oh no, I'm not playing this game." Grete smirked, eating some of the carrot. She knew I was relentless in guessing games, asking constant questions until I got the answer I wanted.

I sighed, tossing a piece of carrot in my mouth. I went to chew it, forgetting that my injuries were still fresh, and winced at the incoming pain. I glanced at Mother, who watched me like a possessive animal, smiling at her to let her know I was fine. The last thing I needed was for her to chew my food for me. I waited for Mother to return to eating before eating another carrot piece myself. More pain.

Dinner was eaten in silence. Usually we'd have some conversation about our day. Anything. Instead, Grete kept her head down, I avoided Mother's observations of me, and Mother attempted to catch me off-guard.

Grete shot up from her chair, nearly knocking it over. Mother and I started at her sudden movement. Her plate was clear. "Let's go, Anders." There was a playfulness in her eyes that only arose when she wanted to wrestle. Or hunt.

My lip trembled in fear, and I bit it. What's going to happen to me? I gave my plate another scan. There were only a few pieces of carrot left. Not wanting them to go to waste, I respectfully pushed my plate in Mother's direction.

"Have fun, my baby." Mother whispered to me.

"I'll try." I was surprised that Mother didn't raise an objection to my little trip with Grete. Unless she knew where we were going—

Grete cleared her throat. She was already at the door, wearing her mittens. Woah.

I scrambled from the table, grabbed my mittens, and ran after Grete.

Once we were outside, Grete and I were attacked by harsh winds. The sun was starting to set, shadows dancing out of hiding.

"Hey, slow down! Grete! Sister! " I screamed to Grete, whose long strides tripled her speed in comparison to my short ones. I finally caught up to Grete, panting. "Why are you so...What's the rush?"

"No rush." Grete didn't even look at me. She kept moving forward.

"Can you tell me where we're going _now_?"

"Nope."

I groaned in annoyance. It got on my nerves at how clipped Grete's answers were whenever I asked her about her life. Was she hiding something or didn't want to talk? "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing."

"Really? I know you, Grete. You don't talk unless you're hiding something."

"...Not hiding anything."

I shivered. I could see the tower of the deserted Arendelle Castle over the buildings of the town where the Queen and Princess had once lived. It was disturbing to behold a sight that was once known for its happiness. Now the Queen lived in her Ice Palace high up on North Mountain, isolated from all, where she harbored the ice statue of the Princess.

Grete lead me to the base of one of the mountains shrouded in darkness where she stopped suddenly, causing me to crash into her.

"A mountain?" I wondered aloud, narrowing my eyes as Grete felt the snow-covered rock face. She knocked on it in various places, listening intently. When she knocked on a certain spot and a hollow sound rang out at us, she smirked, rapping out a specific beat on its surface.

Suddenly a large chunk of the rock face began to recede into the rest of the mountain. It took me a moment to realize that the rock face was actually a door disguised as a rock; it was being open from the inside.

My eyes widened. Who knew something like this existed in Arendelle of all places?

Grete stepped through the doorway, giving a polite nod to the man hidden behind it. I walked in after her, imitating her nod to the man myself.

In front of us was a narrow, winding staircase made of stone that led lower underground. From where I was standing, it was impossible to see where it ended. It was only lit by torches along the walls on either side of it. I gulped.

"Are you okay?" Grete looked over her shoulder at me.

Finally! Some acknowledgement from Grete! I nodded slowly. The rock-door clicked shut behind us. "How many times have you done this?" My voice echoed, bouncing off the stone walls. I reluctantly started the descent after Grete. The staircase was too narrow for us to walk side-by-side, and Grete's wide body blocked my sight.

"Lots of times." I could tell Grete was smiling, even though she was still in her "barely-talking mode". At least she wasn't in a bad mood.

I ran a hand along a wall to steady myself. "How'd you find this place?"

Grete chuckled at me again. I'm pretty sure it was her favorite thing to do. "I told you. I'm not playing this game."

"It's not a game." I muttered defensively, "I just want to know. How'd you find this place?"

"People."

"That's it? _That's it_? 'People'?"

"Yup."

"Stop teasing me! You're doing this on purpose!"

"Not on purpose, Anders."

I fought the urge to push Grete down the stairs. What's with the riddles? "Can you at least tell me where these stairs lead?"

"No."

"I hate you." I said finally in mock seriousness.

Grete chuckled.

We walked on in silence after that.

I had so many questions running through my mind that my head began to hurt. I don't know how long I've been walking, but I began to resent everything around me, anxious to see what—

"We're here." Grete stepped down from the last step and walked over to a long white door.

I joined her at the door, holding my breath as Grete knocked on it.

A small, rectangular compartment near the top of the door slid open, revealing a pair of blue eyes and part of a reddish beard.

"Yoo-hoo! Password please!" An energetic voice with a strange accent spoke from behind the door.

Grete groaned. "Do I have to? You know me, Oaken. Open up..."

Oaken, the man behind the door eyed me suspiciously. "Who's this?"

I waved awkwardly, a small smile on my face. "Hi."

"My brother, Anders. Oaken..." Grete was uneasy for some reason, and I watched with amusement. It wasn't every day that the great Grete was flustered.

"No password, no entry." Oaken was sliding the compartment closed...

"W-Wait!" Grete cried, "Please!"

Oaken slid the compartment open again. "Oh? You have the password?"

Grete took a deep breath. "Okay, okay! I'll say it!" She went on to mumbling something under her breath, then looked at Oaken expectantly.

"Sorry! Couldn't hear you! Please come again!" Oaken proceeded to close the compartment again.

I turned to Grete, full of nerves. "Just say the password so we can get in!"

Grete actually blushed. I've never seen her blush before. "B-But you don't understand how..."

Oaken slid the compartment open yet again, and Grete and I jumped a bit at the sound. "Password please!" His voice was still cheery.

"Ah...S-Sure!" Grete nodded. She went on mumbling again, and I gave her a shove she couldn't feel, of course.

"Aw, so sad. That is not the password." Oaken said, beginning to close the compartment...

"BIG SUMMER BLOWOUT!" Grete screamed, her face bright with embarrassment, the action so out-of-character for her that it terrified me, "I said 'big. Summer. Blowout'!"

Oaken made a sound of pure happiness. "Password accepted!"

So the password was 'big summer blowout'? It was very random. What did it mean, anyway? I could get why Grete was so embarrassed to say it. I would be, too!

Oaken's eyes vanished from the compartment as he closed it shut and opened the door for us. He stepped aside so that Grete and I could enter.

"Th-Thanks." Grete told Oaken as she passed him. She couldn't look him in the eye.

"Thank you, Mr. Oaken." I felt I had to be overtly polite to compensate for my sister's password hassle.

"I like your brother already, Grete! He is welcome back any time, ja?" Oaken shouted down the hallway Grete and I entered.

"Sure." Grete replied half-heartedly.

There was another door at the end of the hallway, and Grete tugged on the handle. The heavy door opened, and we were hit with a cloud of steam. Steam?!

"Welcome to Oaken's Secret Underground Sauna." Grete whispered in my ear as I gaped at the sight before me. "It's underground to hide it from the Queen. If she finds out it's here, we all die."

The room was enormous, to say the least. Crowds of people of all ages and sizes occupied it, completely nude (nudity didn't bother us in Arendelle. We had bigger problems to worry about). In the middle of the room was a rock—no, _boulder_ pit—where water in the biggest bowl I've ever seen hung from the ceiling above it by thick rope. A contraption tilted it so that the water hit the rocks. Steam emitted from the pit and swirled around the room. Along the walls were wooden benches that some people or piles of clothes sat on.

Sweat poured down my face, a different experience from the freezing cold outside. It was amazing. I turned to Grete to thank her, but she was gone. "Grete?"

I wandered around the room in search of my sister, struggling to see through the steam. Pieces of conversation about the Queen caught my ears—someone claimed that the freezing wind was her soul trying to enter one's body—as I walked on. There was a group of people kissing and running their hands all over each other, gasping and moaning in ecstasy. Women sat together, sharing gossip. A man was reading a book. Children were singing. Some people were sleeping. I paused in my journey to avoid a pair of younger children from trampling me.

It was too hot; I was wearing sweat as a second skin under my clothes, so I found an empty bench to take them off. I was taking off my clothes while keeping an eye out for Grete. Where did she go? What happened to actually spending time with me? I folded up my clothes into neat squares and sat my boots on top of them. I decided to remain on the bench to protect my clothes from being stolen, my eyes searching the room for Grete instead.

Minutes later, I found Grete along the back wall of the room. She had already removed her clothes and was passionately kissing a tall, thin girl with long, blonde hair; one hand clung to the girl's hip, pulling her close, and the other one was moving between the girl's legs. The blonde's right hand pulled on Grete's dark and curly short hair, and the left one...The girl didn't have a left hand. Or left forearm. Instead, the remaining part of her arm was bandaged tightly, except for the joint where it met her shoulder. A fraction of the skin there was black...

"Frostbite." I said without thinking. The girl had lost her arm to frostbite. She rocked herself violently against Grete's hand under her...I turned away, another layer of heat rising to my face, ashamed that Grete and the girl had taken my attention for longer than I had intended. I focused on the stone ground.

"Is anyone sitting here?" A voice asked.

I couldn't look up at the person who spoke to me, my face on fire. I knew there was an empty space beside my clothes, so I shook my head. "No."

"Yay!" The voice cheered. I saw a figure sit down and could feel their eyes on me.

I snapped my head up, wanting to give the person beside me a lesson on why staring was rude, but I went quiet and my mouth fell open. Sitting beside me was a snowman!

"Hi! I'm Olaf!" The snowman gushed, holding out a stick arm, "What's your name?"

My mouth locked. A _snowman_ in a _sauna_?! A little snow cloud danced above the snowman's head, keeping him frozen despite the heat. "I...I...I'm Anders," I shook the snowman's hand—er, stick.

"Hi Anders! Oooh! Why is your face broken?" Olaf's expression was sunny and child-like.

My...face? I figured Olaf was talking about my tooth. "You don't want to know."

Olaf put his hands on his cheeks and leaned closer to me. "Now I _have_ to know!"

I found myself smirking. How could I say no to such a face? "Well, I—"

I was interrupted by a shrill scream. People sprung up and began to run to the back wall to escape something or someone.

"I'm sorry, Anders! I should've told you something _really_ important!" Olaf smiled.

"What?"

"I work for Queen Elsa! Isn't that great? My friends and I get to tear this place down!"

"Wh-What?!" I repeated. Sounds muffled. Everything around me spun. My heart was either pumping quickly or stopped altogether. I was having another panic attack. I could feel my body getting heavier...The last thing I saw before I fainted was Olaf waving.

"Bye-bye Anders! I hope I get to see you again!"


End file.
